"Here in a book of enchanting intimacy and homely humor is the story of an American country doctor--of countless country doctors all over America. A colorful figure in the medical world today, head of the Hertzler Clinic at Halstead, Kans., "Pop" Hertzler began his career forty years ago under conditions of pioneer hardship--when it was a case of "root hog or die" for children and adults alike. With the most primitive of equipment (including a Colt "peace-maker" for warding off wild dogs) and with no hospital facilities (many a farm kitchen was a surgical arena in those days), he directed himself to the adventurous business of bringing human souls into the world and preserving them thereafter from premature death. It was a job for a man and a philosopher, and Dr. Hertzler is both. This chronicle of his experiences, so typical and yet so very personal by reason of the personality which pervades it, is the honest stuff of American life--wonderfully illuminating and genuinely exciting."--Jacket. This life story is not individual, because the same account might have been written by countless thousands of old country doctors with, of course, personal variations. Therefore it is in no sense an autobiography. It is a history of my own times. It is personal only as far as is necessary in order to give it point. I have put down the facts as they unfolded themselves, as far as the material made it possible to do so. It is not my autobiography in that I have carefully avoided revealing my own philosophy of life, though I may seem to have done so. The facts presented are general, not personal, and can be defended on scientific grounds. A doctor of medicine may think one thing and feel another. - Preface.

Medicine as it was in my boyhood -- I prepare to study medicine -- I study medicine -- I go to the patient -- I arrive at the patient's bedside -- The patient comes to the office -- I seek further education -- I educate myself -- I practice kitchen surgery -- I build a hospital -- Me and my patient -- Medicine as it is today.